THE 



Story of the Fountain. 



BY 

WILLIAM CULLED BRYANT. 



Illustrated with Forty-two Engravings on Wood, 



NEW YORK: 
D. APPLETON & COMPANY 

MDCCCLXXII. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871 by 

D. APPLETON & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



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///£ 



SUBJECT. AKTIST 

Fountain, that springest on this grassy slope," Fenn. 

" Thou dost wear 

No stain of thy dark birthplace," Fenn. 



" This tangled thicket on the bank above," 



In and out 



The chipping sparrow," 



Fenn. 



" There the spice-bush lifts 
Her leafy lances," Hows. 



Hows. 



Not such thou wert of yore, ere yet the axe," Fenn. 

" — the maple burst into a flush 
Of scarlet flowers." Hows. 



ENGRAVER. PAGE 

Harley. 9 



Harley. 10 

Harley. 1 1 

H. Linton. 12 

Ear st. 13 

Harley. 14 

Harley. 15 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



SUBJECT. AETIST. 

" Humming-birds 
And silken-winged insects of the skv," Fenn. 



ENGEAYEE. PAGE 



Harley. 16 



" Frail wood-plants clustered round thy edge," Hows. Harley. 17 



Here the quick-footed wolf,' 



Fenn. Harley. 



18 



" The deer, too, left 
Her delicate footprint " Fenn. Fihner. 



19 



The slow-paced bear," 



Fenn. Bobbett. 



20 



" But thou hast histories," 



Fenn. Langridge. 21 



The Indian warrior, whom a hand unseen, 



Fredericks. H. Linton. 22 



" — a throng of savage men 



With naked arms," 



Fredericks. Bobbett. 



23 



Each makes a tree his shield, 



Fredericks. Bobbett. 



24 



" — and the dead remain 
Mangled by tomahawks," Fenn. 



Harley. 25 



Figures of men that crouch and creep unheard," Fenn. 



Fihner. 26 



" — a hunter's lodge is built, 
"With poles and boughs," 



Fenn. 



Harley. 27 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

8UEJECT. ARTIST. ENGRAVER. PAGE 

" — flings down 
The deer from his strong shoulders," Fenn. Karst. 28 

Loud the black-eyed Indian maidens laugh/' Fredericks. Bobhett. 29 



— glistened in the frozen rains," 



Fenn. 



" All around was heard the crash of trees," Fenn. 



Harley. 30 

Langridge. 31 



The low of ox, and shouts of men who fired 
The brushwood," 



Fenn. 



Harley. 32 



" The grain sprang thick and tall," 



Hows. Harley. 



33 



ranks of spiky maize," 



Perkins. Filmer. 



34 



" — the buckwheat 
Whitened broad acres," Hows. Bobbett. 



35 



" White cottages were seen," 



Fenn. 



Karst. 



36 



" Barns from which 
Came loud and shrill," Fenn. 



Edmonds. 36 



Pastures where rolled and neighed the lordly horse," Fenn. Harral. 37 



A rich turf 



Of grasses," 



Fenn. Harley. 



37 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



" Blue-eyed girls, 1 ' 



Homer. 



ENGEAVEK. PAGE 



Harley. 



Children, ruddy-cheeked," 



Homer. 



Harley. 



39 



" — as they stooped to taste thy stream," 



Fenn. Han 



40 



The sportsman . . . bathed his heated brow," Fenn. Harley. 41 



" Shouting boys, let loose 
For a wild holiday," Homer. Karst. 



42 



" The plumed soldier by thy side 
Has sat," Fredericks. Bobbett. 



43 



" Lovers have gazed upon thee," 



Fenn. 



Harley. 



44 



" Here the sage, 
Gazing into thy self-replenished depth," 



Fredericks. Bobbett. 



45 



" — strange arts to wither and deform," 



Fenn. Karst. 



46 



u — thy source be lost 
Amidst the bitter brine," Hows. Filmer, 



47 



' — broken cliffs and airy peaks," 



Hows. 



W. J. Linton. 48 



THE STORY OF THE FOUNTAIN. 




Fountain, that springest on this grassy slope, 
Thy quick cool murmur mingles pleasantly, 
With the cool sound of breezes in the beech, 
Above me in the noontide. 




Thou dost wear 
JSTo stain of thy dark birthplace ; gushing up 
From the red mould and slimy roots of earth, 
Thou nashest in the sun. The mountain-air, 
In winter, is not clearer, nor the dew 
That shines on mountain-blossom. Thus cloth God 
Bring, from the dark and foul, the pure and bright. 




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Tliis tangled thicket on the bank above 
Thy basin, how thy waters keep it green ! 
For thou dost feed the roots of the wild vine 
That trails all over it, and to the twigs 
Ties fast her clusters. 




There the spice-bush lifts 
Her leafy lances ; the viburnum there, 
Paler of foliage, to the sun holds up 
Her circlet of green berries. 




In and out 
The chipping sparrow, in her coat of brown, 
Steals silently, lest I should mark her nest. 







Not such thou wert of yore, ere yet the axe 
Had smitten the old woods. Then hoary trunks 
Of oak, and plane, and hickory, o'er thee held 
A mighty canopy. When April winds 




Grew soft, the maple burst into a flush 
Of scarlet flowers. 







The tulip-tree, high up. 
Opened, in airs of June, her multitude 
Of golden chalices to humming-birds 
And silken-winged insects of the sky. 

16 




Frail wood-plants clustered round thy edge in Spring. 
The liver-leaf put forth her sister blooms 
Of faintest blue. 







18 




The deer, too, left 
Her delicate footprint in the soft moist mould, 
And on the fallen leaves. 



19 




The slow-paced bear, 
In such a sultry summer noon as this, 
Stopped at thy stream, and drank, and leaped across. 



Bat thou hast histories that stir the heart 
With deeper feeling; while I look 
on thee 
They rise before me. 
ji£.. I behold the scene 

\; f—; Hoary again with 

v > forests ; 
1, I behold 





The Indian warrior, whom a hand unseen 

Has smitten with his death-wound in the woods, 

Creep slowly to thy well-known rivulet, 

And slake his death-thirst. Hark, that quick fierce cry 





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That rends the utter silence ; 'tis the whoop 
Of battle, and a throng of savage men 
With naked arms and faces stained like blood, 
Fill the green wilderness. The long bare arms 



23 




Then, as the sun goes down, 
Amid the deepening twilight I descry 
Figures of men that crouch and creep unheard, 
And bear away the dead. The next day's shower 
Shall wash the tokens of the light away. 




And sheds his golden sunshine. 







To the door 
The red-man slowly drags the enormous bear 
Slain in the chestnut-thicket, or flings down 
The deer from his strong shoulders. Shaggy fells 
Of wolf and cougar hang upon the walls, 




And loud the black-eyed Indian maidens laugh, 
That gather, from the rustling heaps of leaves, 
The hickory's white nuts, and the dark fruit 
That falls from the gray butternut's long boughs. 




So centuries passed by, and still the woods 
Blossomed in spring, and reddened when the year 
Grew chill, and glistened in the frozen rains 
Of winter, till the white man swung the axe 




Beside thee — signal of a mighty change. 
Then all around was heard the crash of trees, 
Trembling awhile and rushing to the ground, 




The low of ox, and shouts of men who fired 

The brushwood, or who tore the earth with ploughs. 




The grain sprang thick and tall, and hid in green 
The blackened hill-side ; 



33 




^ Ranks of spiky maize 

Rose like a host embattled 




Sweetening with its flowers 
The August wind. White cottages were seen 
With rose-trees at the windows ; barns from which 









(' I tfit/ w 



Came loud and shrill the crowing of the cock 

36 




Pastures where rolled and neighed the lordly horse, 
And white nocks browsed and bleated. A rich turf 




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Of grasses brought from far o'ercrept thy bank. 
Spotted with the white clover. 




Blue-eyed girls 
Brought pails, and dipped them in thy crystal pool 

3* 




And children, ruddy-cheeked and flaxen-haired, 
Gathered the glistening cowslip from thy edge. 



39 




Since then, what steps have trod thy border ! Here 
On thy green bank, the woodman of the swamp 
Has laid his axe, the reaper of the hill 
His sickle, as they stooped to taste thy stream. 



4 o 




The sportsman, tired with wandering in the still 
September noon, has bathed his heated brow 
In thv cool current. 




Shouting hoys, let loose 
For a wild holiday, have quaintly shaped 
Into a cup the folded linden-leaf, 
And dipped thy sliding crystal. 



l*s$ M 




From the wars 
Returning, the plumed soldier by thy side 
Has sat, and mused- how pleasant 'twere to dwell 
In such a spot, and be as free as thou, 
And move for no man's bidding more. At eve, 




When thou wert crimson with the crimson sky, 
Lovers have gazed upon thee, and have thought 
Their mingled lives should now as peacefully 

uorc 



44 




And brightly as thy waters. Here the sage, 
Gazing into thy self-replenished depth, 
Has seen eternal order circumscribe 
And bind the motions of eternal change, 
And from the gushing of thy simple fount 
Has reasoned to the mighty universe. 



Is there no other change 

for thee, that lurks 
Anions: the future as;es ? 

Will not man 
Seek out strange arts to wither 

and deform 
The pleasant landscape which 

thou makest green ? 
Or shall the veins that feed 

thy constant stream 
Be choked in middle earth, 

and now no more 
For ever, that the water-plant 

along 
Thy channel perish, and the 

bird in vain 
Alight to 




drink ? 




Haply shall these green hills 
Sink, with the lapse of years, into the gulf 
Of ocean-waters, and thy source be lost 
Amidst the bitter brine ? Or shall they rise 




Upheaved in broken cliffs and airy peaks, 
Haunts of the eagle and the snake, and thou 
Gush midway from the bare and barren steep 



L 1 



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